I'm preparing to get married and with that comes the plans and details of two weddings, the details of the civil wedding, the premarital counseling, the book reading, the culture compromising, and of course the time with the Lord who is preparing my heart.
a while back He showed me just how prideful i am. i say this with a certain amount of hatred as i think about it - i think i know better than God and therefore i don't need Him. i wasn't praying unless i wanted something and i thought the Bible was too boring to be worthy of my time. praise God that He woos us back to Himself and doesn't let us run our own way.
let Thy goodness
like a fetter
bind my wandering heart to Thee
Now as i ponder the meaning of love, of submission, of authority, of responsibilities of marriage i realize that this too is a demonstration of my pridefulness vs my humility. Am i willing to submit to a man? to follow his decisions? to trust that the Lord is leading him and guiding him into what will be best for us both? Am I humble enough to bite my tongue when all I can think is "I told you so!"? Am I able to respect a human man and follow him when I struggle with doing so with a perfect and wise God? It's true though that this is a heart issue and that I'm not alone. The fall of man made sure that the husband would rule over the woman and the woman would want to fight back. I sometimes bristle at the thought of "submission" but it's truly because of my own prideful sinful heart.
How beautiful would our marriage be if I, instead of clinging to my own way, submitted myself out of respect and love for my husband and we could honor and reflect God's way of doing life to those around us? How lovely would it be, how glorifying, for others to see a new way of marriage and to question and wonder about the ways of Christ! Truly our purpose is to glorify God, and to think that my humility (along with the work of the Holy Spirit) could be a catalyst towards the softening of someone's stone heart to the things of Christ... what an honor, what a responsibility, what a hard task lies before me and my extremely prideful heart...
like a fetter
bind my wandering heart to Thee
Now as i ponder the meaning of love, of submission, of authority, of responsibilities of marriage i realize that this too is a demonstration of my pridefulness vs my humility. Am i willing to submit to a man? to follow his decisions? to trust that the Lord is leading him and guiding him into what will be best for us both? Am I humble enough to bite my tongue when all I can think is "I told you so!"? Am I able to respect a human man and follow him when I struggle with doing so with a perfect and wise God? It's true though that this is a heart issue and that I'm not alone. The fall of man made sure that the husband would rule over the woman and the woman would want to fight back. I sometimes bristle at the thought of "submission" but it's truly because of my own prideful sinful heart.
The heart is deceitful above all things
and beyond cure.
Who can understand it?
and beyond cure.
Who can understand it?
How beautiful would our marriage be if I, instead of clinging to my own way, submitted myself out of respect and love for my husband and we could honor and reflect God's way of doing life to those around us? How lovely would it be, how glorifying, for others to see a new way of marriage and to question and wonder about the ways of Christ! Truly our purpose is to glorify God, and to think that my humility (along with the work of the Holy Spirit) could be a catalyst towards the softening of someone's stone heart to the things of Christ... what an honor, what a responsibility, what a hard task lies before me and my extremely prideful heart...
This is how we know what love is:
Jesus Christ laid down his life for us.
And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers.
Jesus Christ laid down his life for us.
And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers.
1 comment:
I, too, have been praying this lately and hoping that one day God will help me to submit to a husband... its so hard for strong personalities! lol But by God's grace, we can do it. :) Love this post!
~Mandy Morrison
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